Luke, Tear and the legend of the Melting Chair
by Kyoko Flickers
Summary: The travelers are weary from the days voyage and stop to rest at a small inn. Tear finds the towns citizens a little strange and asks for Luke's help to uncover the truth behind their uneasy demeanors. Rated K for lack of anything remotely violent.


**_((Hello and welcome. *bows*  
_**

**_I don't really know... I just wanted to be a little silly. 83_**

**_Well anyway, here's a random Tales of the Abyss fic, and there is a story about how this came about. Ya'see, I'm in high school still and I'm taking an art class. Drawing, to be precise. We have to do what is called 'Drawing of the Week' where we do whatever small, meaningless task my teacher, one of the best in the world, wants us to preform. This week, Feburary 23rd, was to draw a picture of a melting chair. Now, she gives us free reign when doing this, so we can pretty much do whatever we want. So, in my mind, drawing is harder than writing, thus drawing a chair that was MELTING would be beyond difficult. (and I didn't wanna do it anyway...) So here is the product. A random ToA story about a melting chair. Yeah, have fun._**

**_Disclaimer: NOT. MINE. But the idea is~! And I sorta wanna have all rights to mah lovable douche bag Jade~ *fangirls* 8D_**

**_Tear is a liiiiittle bit OC in this, but nothing major, so if ya don't like it... Oh well.))_**

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"Luke, come this way!" Tear whispered loudly down the hall of the inn. She sighed and put her hand against her head. "Honestly, you can be such a moron at times..."

"I'm a moron? Couldn't you say something nice after you wake someone up in the middle of the night?" a voice called back quietly at the end of the hall. The owner of the voice, a boy late in his teens, walked up to the girl, who was tapping her foot impatiently. His short, spiky red hair was in a chaotic jumble upon his head and matched perfectly with his hastily thrown on clothing. With a loud yawn he cracked his shoulders and neck quickly, earning a glare from his partner. "... What?" he questioned with a little glare of his own.

With another, longer and more exasperated sigh, the girl shook her head, her long brunette hair rustling her military uniform. Silently waving her head, she led the way to the door. The two snuck out of the building with little difficulty and quietly made their way down the cobblestone street. "Where are we--"

"Shh." Tear stopped him mid-question.

"But, I don't--"

"Shh!"

Luke clenched his hands tightly into fists. "Tear. Tell me what--"

Suddenly she swung around and poked him in the stomach with her pointer finger. "Shhhhh!! Don't you know what 'shh' means?" By this time, she was getting annoyed. Luke, inclined to believe that he knew his partner well enough, took the hint and shut up before she got really mad and beat his face in.

Without another word, he followed her as they walked out of the city and into the nearby forested area. For a while, they just walked, slowing down to a slightly slower dawdle, maneuvering their way through the randomly placed trees. The red-haired boy couldn't help it when a yawn escaped him again and he made a muffled grunting noise. Tear stopped and turned to him, her bluish-green eyes boring into his emerald green ones. For a moment, they just looked at each other.

Sensing that it was his turn to do something, Luke made a throat clearing noise and rubbed his nose absently. "So. What are we out here in the middle of the woods in the dead of night for?"

"I wanted to confirm something that has been troubling me since we entered this town." she stated calmly. Crossing her arms and closing her eyes in thought she continued, "Don't you think it's a bit strange how when we questioned the towns people about this forest, they completely evaded our queries?"

"Big words say what now?" Luke asked, tilting his head.

"Luke... ah, never mind. They people were acting weird and I think it has something to do with this forest."

"Oh," he responded with a nod. "I thought they were acting funny too. But why do you think it's the forest's fault? Someone give you a hint?"

Tear sighed. "No... I just had a feeling..."

"And that's why you're investigating at night." She nodded. "Yeah, I get it, but why did you want me? You could have picked one of the others, or even done this on your own, right?"

With a slight blush, Tear turned away. "Y-yeah. I could have. But... I just--I wanted the company and you were the closest to my room, alright? It can get kind of lonely out in unfamiliar territory by yourself. And what if I needed help? Or I found something and got captured? I would be more likely to get word out if someone else was with me or--"

"Or," Luke cut in with a large smirk on his face. "... you could just have been scared of the dark." Making no comment, the brunette walked forward into the next set of trees. "Hey!!" the stupid boy shouted. "Don't just leave me here! Tear! Hold on a sec!!" he called as he dashed in after her.

-----

"How long have we been out here?" a tired Luke wondered out loud. So far, they had been walking in a systematic cycle; walking about thirty steps, turning to the left, another thirty steps, turning to the right, and so on. That way, the bulk of the forest was inspected. It wasn't like it was a huge forest, but for two people on their own, completely unfamiliar with the terrain and other things, it was gigantic.

"Hmm? Oh, I'd say about an hour or so. Not long, but we should be near the western border of the forest. There shouldn't be much left for us to cover." Tear deduced.

Lunging over a fallen trunk, the red-head found himself knee deep in a murky substance. "... Ugh. Ewww! It's mud!" he scowled. Lifting his leg out of the gook slowly, he watched as his raised leg dripped slimy dark globs on the ground. "Oh. Yeah. That's just perfect." Rubbing his infected leg on the trunk, he glared at the puddle quickly and looked around for his partner. No where to be found. She had a wonderful way of disappearing and reappearing at random times.

With a defeated sigh, Luke gave up on trying to get the already-drying mud off of his white pants and started to walk again. "Tear? Hey, Tear, you hear me?"

"I'm over here, Luke." she signaled from a little ways ahead. "You should... come see this."

"What? Did you find something?" he asked, finding her crouched down in a small clearing. The moonlight shone bright through the large hole in the tree tops and highlighted a circle in the center of it. Something was standing in the middle, glistening in the beams.

"Yes." she answered simply, focusing her attention on the ground. Luke walked up beside her and stopped when her hand grabbed his pant leg. "Don't touch anything, you idiot. You might break something--.... What is on your pants?"

With a cough, he explained he had a little trouble with a puddle.

Tear stared at him like he was the most idiotic man on the planet before re-directing her gaze downwards again.

Luke shrugged and looked back at the illuminated object. Staring hard, he finally figured out what it was. "It's.... a chair?"

Indeed, it was a chair. A simple-as-simple-could-be chair. Nothing fancy or decorative; just four wooden legs, a wooden base on top of that, two arm rests and a flat back. The wood seemed to be rotted slightly in some places and was a darkened brown from age, but it looked like nothing had ever touched it. No scratches, bumps, scrapes or bangs. Nothing to indicate any living thing had ever even breathed by it.

"Yes. A chair, but I also found this..." Hearing his partner's voice made him look down and see the small journal she was reading on the ground.

Bending down to look with her, Luke cocked his head. "I... I can't read it. Is it smudged or written in some weird language?"

"What? This is written in Ancient Ispanian, it's not--" She stopped and blinked. "Ohhh.... Yeah, we forgot to teach you Ancient Ispanian, didn't we?"

Luke tsk-ed and plopped down on his butt, knees bent, hand on either side of him. "Okay then. Story time it is!"

Tear raised an eye brow at his cheeky grin but sighed and picked up the worn, hand written book carefully, turning to face him. "Right. Uhh, the first couple pages are blank and the end is ripped out, but it starts here, so listen up." With a nod signalling the go ahead, Tear began to translate.

"Once a King ever so great,  
sought a wife to share in his fate  
to rule a vast kingdom with wealth and pride,  
so he went out searching for his future bride."

"Oh, great, a love poem." Luke mumbled.

"Shh."

"Right."

"To the West he did ride,  
on a pure white horse and a loyal servant at his side.  
To the East he did go,  
but a bride did not come, a bride never did show."

"Aww, poor dude. He should just go back and be lazy around his castle."

"Luke!" Tear growled.

"What?" he responded, all fake innocence.

"Shh!" He rolled his eyes and she continued on a sigh.

"There seemed not to be a bride for him,  
not here nor there, not a single heart to win.  
Until one day, a maid did pass  
heaving a large basket filled with grass."

"Grass?" A glares was shot toward the red-head. "Sorry..."

"The King got down off of his steed  
and went to help the maiden in need.  
'Why hello there, do you need some help?' the King asked with a dazzling smile.  
'Why, yes, I would.' the girl responded, looking down timidly into the grass pile."

"... Why grass though?" he mumbled out loud.

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and let me read."

"..."

"With a quick little snap, the servant came rushing  
'Take this girls basket so she can quit all this fussing'.  
The servant, happy to do as his master wished,  
took the basket as the girl's golden hair swished."

Tear stopped reading and looked up at Luke. Blinking, the boy asked, "What? Something on my face?" before she looked back down.

"No. Just thought you were going to interrupt again."

"... Just keep reading, would'ya?"

"'Thank you, Oh King, ruler of my heart  
as my thanks, let me make a vow never to part'.  
The King was excited, he finally found his bride  
but when he learned the truth, he all but died.

His servant had been the one to hold the load,  
so unto him had she placed her beautiful hair and heart of gold.  
His loyal and trustworthy best friend  
had stabbed him in the back in the end.

So before the ceremony to each other they would wed,  
the great King devised an ugly trick in his head.  
When his former-friend's lovely bride would sit to brush her hair,  
the chair would melt and send a foul stench into the air.

This smell would be a mix of death and strife  
because of the disintegrating corpse of the former-friend's wife  
and the battle between the two friends-turned-enemies  
would continue on for the up-coming centuries.

Until the finally minute and breath of their lives,  
the two men battled it out with words and with knives,  
never again seeing the unholy chair in the center of the room  
to which the lovely and fair maid at been sentenced to her doom."

With a sigh, Tear looked up into Luke's stern gaze. "W-what?" she stuttered, growing flustered by his unnaturally serious eyes.

"Oh, you're done?" he said. A nod. "Okay, now do you know what it means? 'Cuz I'm a little lost." he admitted, reaching up to scratch behind his head.

Tear smiled and giggled slightly. "You get the whole fighting over the girl thing, right?"

"Yeah, but if the King loved her so much, wouldn't he want her to be happy?"

At this, the brunette didn't know what to say. "Luke... that may be the most unselfish and gentlemanly thing you have ever said."

"Sh-shut up. I was just thinking out loud..." he huffed.

The smile didn't leave her face. "Yes. He should have, but he was to blinded by jealousy and envy. He decided that if he couldn't have her, no one could, not even his best friend."

"Huh." he huh-ed. "That seems a little... too much, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, but that's how some people thought; how some people still think." Closing the journal, Tear placed it back on the ground where she found it and stood up. Luke followed suit and brushed off his pants and scowling at the caked on mud he had almost forgotten about. "But I wonder why that chair is just sitting there?"

"Heh, maybe it's the chair from the legend... Let's go test it. Tear. Sit down." he suggested, laughing at the horrified face his partner made. "I'm just kidding, Tear, sorry. I didn't mean that." He placed his hands on her shoulders and rubbed through the sturdy fabric of her uniform.

Just as she was going to push him away, the tension in her body started to fade away. The slow and steady massage loosened all the muscles in her shoulders and neck, lulling her into a comfortable daze. No sleep after a hard days traveling made one tired, but add on a little night excursion through the forest and anyone would be at their limit. Feeling her eyes droop, Tear thought briefly about giving in to the nagging urge to just collapse and sleep on the ground. The sound of clothes rustling jostled her out of her foggy haze a little bit.

"I'm sorry, but I wanna test it out." Letting go, the red-head walked forward into the circle of light.

Barely registering that he wasn't behind her anymore, Tear squinted into the shining light. His hand reached for the armrest of the ancient old chair and she gasped. "LUKE! DON'T TOUCH THAT CHAIR!!"

Her voice rang through the forest and echoed against the trees as everything in the boy's mind went blank and he passed out.

-----

"--ke..."

A blinding light flashed into his dark world, flooding every surface with bright whiteness. He tried to move his arms up to block it, but they were as heavy as stones. A murmured voice whispered something to him as his eyes searched for the source.

"Luke..."

His name? Was it saying his name? "Who are you?" he called out, his normally strong voice now reduced to a feeble whimper.

"It's me... Wake up, Luke... Please."

With some difficulty, Luke opened his eyes and squinted up at his partner's teal eyes. A few watery blinks later, he understood that he was lying down and she was bent over, trying to rouse him.

"Tear...?" he asked quietly.

"Good. You're awake. It's time we got moving. Everyone else is almost ready."

"You have really pretty eyes, you know that?"

Taken aback by his sudden realization, the brunette blinked. "W-what??" A blush flourished across her face, covering it in a nice coat of red. Before Luke could say anything else, she flew from the room, slamming the door on her way.  
Blinking a little more, the boy shifted and was caught by an unexpected yawn. After wiping at his sleepy eyes for a minute, Luke stared hazily ahead, not really sure what to make of the situation. Where was he? What was he doing? Where were they going?

Then it hit him. The events of last night; everything with the melting chair.

Like the wind, Luke jumped out of bed and bolted down the small hallway of the inn. In the corner of his mind, he noted that the inn didn't look the same as it did the other night. Like this wasn't even the same building. Deciding to put that off until he got some real answers, he barreled out the door and right into his partner. With a thud, they fell to the ground, tangling themselves in a mess of limbs.

Just a few feet away stood the rest of the group, most thankful that they weren't in Tear's situations right now.

"... My my. What a lively lad you are in the morning. I'd be careful, Tear, he might come after you when you're not looking, my dear." Colonel Jade Curtiss commented in his sarcastic manner of speaking that always managed to piss somebody in the vicinity off.

"Colonel, don't make Tear worry more than she has to. She needs to take it easy and not think about things like that." the short little girl named Anise scolded.

"My deepest apologies. Anise. Tear. I do hope you will forgive me and my rudeness." he retorted, bowing slightly.

"Well, whatever, I'll just have to take care of Luke's... 'urges' in the morning then, won't I?" Anise teased.

"I don't know if Luke would like that." Guy, feeling he had to say something on the behalf of his best friend, laughed nervously.

Natalia, a long time friend of both Guy and Luke, sighed and settled her hands on her hips. "This is not the time for play. We should start on our way. We have a long road ahead of us until the next town."

At this, Luke finally sat up from his tumble with his partner. "Wait! Tear--" he turned to her, still seated on the ground. "--we've got to show them the chair in the clearing."

"What? What chair?" the girl asked. Luke reached his hand down and she took it. Once she was on her feet, Luke asked again. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't remember seeing a chair or a clearing."

"It was in the forest! You know, you woke me up to go wander around the forest and we found that chair and that creepy journal and stuff."

"Right, because Tear just loves to wake people up in the middle of the night. Luke, you're crazy." Anise commented dryly.

"But... You were--I mean, we saw the light! And you told me not to touch it!" he gasped.

"And did you?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Well, yeah. I guess I did... then I blacked out."

"Or you just woke up from your dream." Guy offered.

"Yeah... Wait, no! It wasn't a dream, Guy." Luke growled. Quickly looking around, he noticed they weren't in the same town as before. Actually, there wasn't even a town. All that was left was a dirt road and the trees leading into the forest. "Hey... Where'd the town go?"

"Luke, we were not in a town last night. We stayed at this road side inn." Natalia said, looking worried.

The red-haired boy scowled and glanced at the trees. After a quiet moment, he burst into action, sprinting like a bullet into the maze of plants. Behind him, his friends called his name.

Flying through the wood like a man possessed, Luke finally found the trunk he jumped over. He lept over it and managed to miss the mud pile. Absently, he remembered the caked on mud on his pant leg. When he looked down to look at it, he was shocked to find it was gone, the white of his pants fluttered in the gentle wind without any stains.

He shook his head to clear it and pushed that odd thought aside. He went for the clearing. Over his shoulder, he heard muffled voices. Leave it to his companions to be able to track him through a forest.

In no time, he stumbled into the clearing from last night. The journal was gone, only a rectangle shaped patch on the ground was left. Immediately, he looked for the weather-beaten old chair. The sunlight beamed down, just like the moonlight had, only this time, there was no chair. In its place was a small puddle of dark brown sludge.

Noises sounded behind him and he dawned a triumphant smile. "See?!" he yelled, turning around to greet the five others. "It was right here. This proves it!"

"... A puddle of mud proves... what?" Tear asked.

"That Luke has finally lost it." Jade concluded. The older man stepped quickly up to the younger lad and grabbed him by the back of his collar. "Using my high military rand and superior cranial comprehension, I deem this hapless fool certifiably insane." With that, he began to drag him away.

"Insane? You're insane! Just listen to me!" Luke screamed frantically. "The chair! The chair melted, just like in that old journal! The mud IS the chair and the King! The great and dark King and that girl! And the grass! THE GRASS!!"

His voice cracked and echoed through the forest as he was pulled away. Tear, Guy, Natalia and Anise stood in awe at his sudden meltdown. "Well? Shall we head out?" Guy asked nervously.

Natalia sighed and nodded. She and Guy walked on ahead, discussing Luke's sanity and current state of mind while Anise turned to Tear. "Huh. I guess even the best of us have breakdowns.... Right, Tear?"

Tear was staring at the pool of gunk. She flinched when Anise touched her arm. "Tear? You okay?"

"What?" she said, seemingly coming out of a trance. "Oh, y-yes. I'm fine."

"What wrong?"

"Anise..." The brunette looked serious. "Do you... smell something?"

"Uh..." the little girl sniffed the air. "Nope. Nothing but trees."

"Oh... Then it must be my imagination." She shook her head and sighed. "Okay, lets just forget this and catch up to everyone."

With that, the two followed their friends, Luke still screaming his head off. Tear glanced back once and never looked back, the stench of death and sorrow filling her nose one last time...

* * *

_**((I got this read by some random friend of mine who is also obsessed, though slightly less, with ToA like I am and he called it a very depressing work of literature. It does sorta end on a sad note, but... oh well. Review if you liked it, because this is my first shot at a video game fic and I'd like to know how I did since it was mainly just for fun and a school assignment. 83))**_


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